Monday, February 20, 2006

We will not be silenced

A recent opinion piece in the Western Herald by Ron Riekki attacks the College Republicans. Riekki's main point seems to be that we should never criticize anybody, because that would be negative, which is bad. "Liberals are Wrong About Everything" isn't a slogan, it's a speech title. It's also a statement of fact. You can agree or disagree. Our flyers don't exist to make nuanced arguments; they exist to advertise a speech.

Riekki notes in passing the rampant defacement of flyers, but claims that this is our fault because we dared to say that liberals are wrong. The poor liberals just couldn't control themselves!

He makes mention of some "positive" liberal flyers. I guess he didn't notice the "Bush Step Down" and "American War Crimes" flyers that liberals have posted in the past. Maybe they weren't as "omnipresent" as our flyers. Or maybe Riekki's "no criticism" rule only applies to us.

He goes on: "Instead of utilizing class and integrity with their posters, they’re aiming for argumentation, a furthering of bipartisanship, [I think he means partisanship, not bipartisanship] a bigger gap in the country. And I’m not even mad about it anymore. I used to be furious. Now I just feel weak. I feel sad when I see those posters and disappointed with WMU and especially the WMU Republicans. Because I know they could aim higher. They could try a little harder at creating a positive college atmosphere, but instead they’ve got their sights set on Jerry Springer meets Bill O’Reilly radical emptiness." Everything was great until those darn conservatives spoke up!

Finally, Riekki alludes to the attack against Buchanan last year. Apparently that was our fault too: "Let’s not try and [sic] create environments where someone feels so disenfranchised and constantly mocked that they [sic] want to throw a pie in Coulter’s face. Instead, let’s keep things professional in the political arena." So now he excuses assault because the perpetrator "feels so disenfranchised and constantly mocked." What makes him think that some liberals assault speakers because they feel bad instead of just being fascists intolerant of any disagreement? Why does he condemn us while excusing them? Unfortunately for Riekki's despondant liberals thesis, the purely informational flyers with just the time and location of Coulter's speech were just as likely to be defaced or torn down. It isn't the "offensiveness" of the flyers that liberals object to, it's the mere fact that someone might hear a different point of view.

This is so typical of a liberal. After reading his piece, I wondered how consistently Riekki applies his "don't be negative" rule. Surprise, surprise! It turns out that three of his last four columns are spent attacking things he doesn't like. Aside from attacking us, he also attacks rich people and attacks the war in Iraq.

Ann Coulter has described liberalism as "the absolute conviction that there is one set of rules for you, and another, completely different set of rules for everyone else." Looks like Ron's just been made. Rest assured, as long as there are liberals on this campus, we will continue to expose them. That feeling of weakness means you're losing.

3 comments:

If this guy is so ill-equipted to deal with the stress of politics that some fliers with a quasi-antagonistic slogan on them makes him feel "so disenfranchised and constantly mocked," he should consider staying out of politics altogether.